Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

One of my newest addition to my group of kitchen utensils is this granite mortar and pestle ($12.99 from Ranch 99).

The internal diameter of my mortar is 4.5 inches (the smallest of this granite series). The pestle is 6 inches long which fits nicely into the palm of my hand, allowing a firm grip.

Benefits of using a granite mortar and pestle:

1. Ingredients can be pounded to release and blend all of their natural oils and juices. A pounded paste is immensely aromatic and has a breadth and depth of flavor lacking in a processed mixture produced by an electric blender.

2. Curry pastes and other fragrant pastes required for Nonya or Thai cooking are made in the traditional way using a mortar and pestle.

3. You can make a ground paste from scratch and then brag about it.

4. A granite mortar and pestle is very dense and heavy. It will not chip and can last for years even when subjected to vigorous daily pounding.

5. Pounding the ingredients can help to build up your arm muscles as a certain degree of strength is required.

6. For those people who lead stressful lives, the act of pounding and the rhythmic sound of thumping can be meditative and helps to alleviate stress.

7. It takes time, effort and patience to create a well blended paste and can be treated as part of a character building process for the modern cook seeking short cuts by using ready-made premixes. (Oops! That’s me!)

How to use a mortar and pestle:

1. Use a straight pounding motion as well as a grinding motion up and down the rougher sides of the mortar.

2. For the tougher or fibrous ingredients (like lemongrass), chop or cut them into smaller pieces before pounding. You can add some course salt to provide some abrasion to the grinding process to reduce the harder and more fibrous herbs and spices as well as pull their flavors together.

3. Soften dried ingredients like dried chillies and kaffir lime peel by soaking them in water before pounding.

4. For the softer and wetter ingredients like garlic and shallots, they can be placed in whole as they mash up relatively easily. (I use an electric blender to chop ingredients into finer pieces first before pounding them afterwards to release their flavors fully.)

5. For mortar and pestle newbies, it is advisable to work on one ingredient at a time, starting with the dry spices. This is because if you pound all the wet and dry ingredients together, some of them may be cushioned by themselves in a soft bed. Dry ingredients are easily mashed up with a rolling motion of the pestle around the bottom and sides of the mortar while its surface is still dry.

6. Remove the pulverized dry ingredients from the mortar before proceeding with the fibrous herbs. Pound one ingredient at a time, a small amount at a time, moving from the hardiest to the softest and wettest.

7. When all the ingredients have been reduced to powder or paste, combine them and pound together until they are well blended and indistinguishable.